Arsenal legend Lauren says there’s just one player from this current Gunners side who he thinks would get into that famous Invincibles squad.
One imagines there’d be a fair bit of debate about this from fans of Arsenal and other clubs, with Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli perhaps in the conversation, but Lauren has gone for Bukayo Saka as the stand-out member of Mikel Arteta’s squad.
The England international has been a joy to watch this season, contributing 11 goals and 9 assists to Arsenal’s season and impacting some big games to help the north London giants to a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Lauren is a big fan of Saka, though he admits he’d find it hard to pick anyone from this current Arsenal side to replace any one of the legendary Invincibles squad, who went the entire 2003/04 league campaign undefeated.
The former Cameroon right-back was a key part of that AFC side, and he exclusively told Ladbrokes Fanzone about his thoughts on what this current team could achieve, singling out Saka as a potential Invincible.
“I would pick the whole squad instead of one player of the season, but if I had to pick just one, then it’s got to be Bukayo Saka,” Lauren said.
“The boy has scored big penalties when the pressure is on and he’s scoring goals, as we saw against Man Utd when the team needed to step up and take some responsibility, he has done it against United and Liverpool.
“The pressure he makes in order to win that ball and score the second goal, he has been absolutely the best player for Arsenal this season.
“The Invincibles generation was fantastic, and I would stick with them first, but if I had to pick someone from the current Arsenal squad to make it then it would be Bukayo Saka.”
He added: “I like to think in a positive way, so why would I think that Arsenal are not going to win the Premier League? The team is doing well, playing a lot of good quality football overall and they show us they can manage the pressure in adversity so whatever happens Arsenal fans have to be proud.
“Very proud in this young bunch of players because they gave us the belief that we can win big games, the belief that we can win the Premier League and whatever happens I feel very proud because they’ve been absolutely amazing since the start of the season.
“It was one of my biggest concerns a few weeks ago that when you get to the kind of stage where there is big pressure there but we saw in the last two games that they’ve been brilliant, especially the last one, people will say that it was only Bournemouth but they still had to bounce back from two goals down.
“When you’re top of the table there is big pressure there in the dressing room amongst the players, but they showed character and determination. My worries are going away, because the team showed that sort of mentality that you need in order to win the title.”